Durban - Standing in the queue outside the Home Affairs offices in Umgeni Road three hours before it opened did not help a Montclair woman as she was overtaken by people who had “bought” their space upfront.
The woman, who did not want to be named, had awoken at 4am on Saturday thinking she was getting a head start in the long lines at the Department of Home Affairs offices to renew her identity document and passport.
She was number 18 in the queue when she arrived at 5am. However, her joy at being an early riser was short-lived.
“I was fine and knew I was going to be one of the first people to go in,” she said.
Closer to the opening time of 8am, she learnt that some of the people standing in front of her had been holding places for others - at least 30 spaces - in exchange for a monetary reward.
“I was shocked and very upset,” she said.
“The people who bought places got in at 8am and left at 9am. I left at 11.30am.”
She had spent more than six hours at the offices and was not the only one upset by the queue hoppers.
She said witnesses got into heated exchanges with those who bought their places. The woman questioned various department officials on this issue and was apparently told nothing could be done because this was happening outside their offices.
“Home Affairs needs to find a solution. It shouldn’t allow such a thing to happen at its premises,” she said angrily.
Posing as a potential client for an upfront spot in the queue, the Daily News approached one of the men who saved such a space.
The man said he sold the spaces for R350, but depending on the number of people a “client” came with, they would bring the price down to R200.
He said he arrived early in the morning with people he hired on the day to secure the places.
The number of people he hired to keep spaces would depend on the number of spaces being bought.
He would start “work” at 3am. His clients would arrive between 7.30am and 8am when the offices opened.
Payment would apparently only be made once the client had taken his or her space in the queue.
The man would not divulge how much money he made on his dealings.
The Montclair woman’s woes are one of many such tales the Daily News has received.
Sue Hickman of Waterfall said: “We’ve tried four different offices and all at different times of the day. Either we are turned away as there are too many people, or they are off-line. Ten visits must equate to at least 20 hours wasted so far. The service at the Department of Home Affairs is terrible.”
Another reader, Dr Romola Naidoo, said she went to renew her son’s passport.
At the Pinetown and Scottburgh offices, she said she had to wait hours in the scorching sun, in the long snaking queues, which was made worse by rude Home Affairs officials.
“I don’t think that I see more into this unacceptable situation than the Home Affairs officials do, as I’m a medical doctor and passionate about my job.
“Any caring, responsible person would not expect children, the ill and elderly, or even well adults, to stand in the heat for an entire day (only) to be turned away.
“To the Home Affairs officials - you do not provide these persons that you have turned away with their day’s wage, and hence food, job security or taxi fare,” Naidoo said.
Cyril Mncwabe, the provincial manager at the Home Affairs Department, said they had heard what was happening at the Umgeni offices.
However, he said, there was little they could do because the building did not belong to them, but was rented out.
Mncwabe said they had no control over what happened outside the building.
Further, he said the buying of spaces took place very early in the morning before they opened, making it difficult to identify what was happening.
Once they opened, Mncwabe said they served whoever was at the front of the queue by giving them numbers.
However, the handing out of numbers also posed a problem because they were currently investigating officials who allegedly sold numbers to people waiting to get in.
Mncwabe cautioned people to be aware that they should not pay for any services outside their offices.
He said services should only be paid for inside.
Thabo Mokgola, the department’s national spokesperson, said they were unaware of the queue savers and called such a practice “unlawful”.
“Once we get the full details we will investigate the matter,” said Mokgola.